Almost everyone had Wi-Fi in the house due to its convenience. However, there have been some safety concerns and the conclusion it that Wi-Fi can be detrimental to the overall health, especially in children. So, Wi-Fi has a negative effect on various things, from brain health to sleep quality.

Potential Dangers of Wi-Fi

Damages Childhood Development

The non-thermal radio frequency radiation from Wi-Fi can disrupt normal cellular development, especially fetal development. This radiation affects growing tissues, such as in children and youth. Consequently, they would be more susceptible than average to the described effects and are at greater risk of developmental issues.

Contributes to the Development of Insomnia

Wi-Fi has also a great effect on sleep. If you feel like you cannot fall asleep, have an irregular sleeping pattern, it may be due to the low-frequency modulation from cell phones and Wi-Fi. People who are exposed to electromagnetic radiation have a significantly more difficult time falling asleep. And we all know that sleep deprivation can be harmful to the health.

Agitates Brain Function

Wi-Fi affects the concentration and the brain function. So, the brain activity is reduced, and as a result, you may experience trouble concentrating or have memory loss.

Neutralizes Sperm

Wi-Fi is another reason which threats man’s virility. Hence, exposure to Wi-Fi frequencies reduce sperm movement and cause DNA fragmentation. Moreover, it may impact fertility or increase the risk of abnormal pregnancy.

Causes Cardiac Stress

Many people experience a real physical response to electromagnetic frequencies, including increased heart rate. Therefore, Wi-Fi increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Increases the Risk of Cancer

The exposure to electromagnetic radiation increases the risk of tumor development.

Wi-Fi Radiation – How To Protect Yourself

Fortunately, there are ways you can protect yourself from the dangers, including:

Avoid placing a wireless router in your kitchen or bedroom.

Do not keep the phone in your pocket.

Use wired phones when at home, to reduce electromagnetic radiation.

If you’re pregnant, don’t keep the phone close to the belly.

Make sure you keep your phone at the other end of the room, or on the seat of the car.

Use texting more than talking.

Do not use wireless baby monitors, as they all operate on microwave frequency.

Disconnect all Wi-Fi devices before going to sleep.

How much radiation are you actually getting?

The effect of radiation is determined on the proximity of the transmitting device to the user. The further away, the less power is received, and this is usually in the “inverse proportion” rule. This means that at a given power output, if you are twice the distance from the source you will receive 1/4 of the radiation power; and if you are 4 times the distance away from the source, 1/16th of the radiation will be received, and so on.

3G devices (in the U.S.A.) don’t really have a set frequency, but rather will operate at various levels ranging from about 800 MHz to 2.4 GHz (more if you’re using Bluetooth or 4G phones).

WiFi signals, on the other hand, share the same general frequency as microwave ovens at right around 2.4 GHz.

But because of how we use these signals, it becomes a battle of distance and duration. Mobile phones are used right next to our skin for short bursts of time, while routers or laptops generally sit far away from us for extremely prolonged periods of time. The UK’s Health Protection Agency noted in 2007 that:

Sitting in a wi-fi hotspot for a year results in receiving the same dose of radio waves as making a 20-minute mobile phone call.

But the thing to learn from this is that you probably don’t have to worry too much about this kind of radiation having any seriously dangerous long-term (cancerous) effects on you (provided you’re not walking around with wireless devices taped to every inch of your skin). That’s not to say long term exposure to low-level radiation might not have other adverse health effects, but it’s hugely unlikely to be cancer. Any radiation below ultraviolet (radio, microwave, infrared, and visible light) is non-ionizing and won’t penetrate bone, meaning it can’t break down atoms (and consequently DNA, leading to cancer) and it can’t get to your brain. The “do power lines/microwaves/mobile phones/next radiation-emitting-device-that-most-people-don’t-fully-understand give you cancer?” studies are all, as they’ll always be, resoundingly inconclusive.

Even the newest WHO review of cell phones (described by CNN with a typically alarmist title) somehow makes the claim that cell phones are “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” despite the fact that “The WHO work group did not find that there was sufficient evidence linking cancer and environmental or occupational exposures with microwave energy,” implying that the possible carcinogens must come from the phones themselves, and not the radiation.

Looking at the picture above, it is somewhat alarmist as none of those devices would be normally found in a child or baby’s bedroom!

This Is Me

George Brown is a decorated soldier and health professional and 40 year veteran in the field of emergency nursing and paramedical practice, both military and civilian areas. He has senior management positions in the delivery of paramedical services. Opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the author and should not be construed as being those of any organization to which he may be connected.

He was born in the UK of Scottish ancestry from Aberdeen and a member of the Clan MacDougall. He is a member of the Macedonian community in Newcastle, and speaks fluent Macedonian. While this may seem a contradiction, it is his wife who is Macedonian, and as a result he embraced the Macedonian language and the Orthodox faith.

His interests include aviation and digital photography, and he always enjoys the opportunity to combine the two. Navigate to his Flickr site to see recent additions to his photo library.